The countdown clock projected on the 3Arena screens should have been an indicator – Kasabian aren’t here to mess around. There may have been a time when raucously ramshackle shows were part of this band’s charm, but no longer. Precision is now the order of the day.
A crowd counting down to one makes any event feel like a Saturday evening watching Gladiators, and the Leicester lads stride onstage looking every bit as caricatured as Wolf, Ace or any of those other teatime favourites. The established patterns of a Kasabian live show are present and correct – the cryptic words displayed behind the band, for instance, still make as little sense as ever – but from the second they explode into ‘bumblebeee’, there’s a sense that the group is more comfortable than ever.
There’s beer and limbs flying through ‘Shoot The Runner’. Even through the band’s muscular sound – the now-familiar blend of crunching riffs and forceful synths – the crowd makes a handsome vocal contribution to ‘Underdog’. They’re not short of encouragement either, instructed early and often to “show your fucking hands!” By the end of the evening, Dublin has shown its fucking hands a lot. The group look to be in full-on festival mode; even in the depths of winter, the crowd is more than happy to go along.
Any fears that the show had crossed that thin line between efficient and perfunctory are put to bed when things slow. A soaring rendition of ‘Goodbye Kiss’ follows ‘Thick as Thieves’, a song which had spent quite a while in set-list wilderness. It’s all as tight as it gets, and the addition of a four piece string section only elevates the performance, rather than disturbing the balance. There’s room for a bit of fun, too – Fatboy Slim’s ‘Praise You’ gets an outing, and even Cameo’s ‘Word Up’ makes an unlikely, er, cameo.
It’s still about power plays, though, and there’s plenty to draw on. ‘Empire’, ‘Fire’ and ‘Vlad The Impaler’ are all met with suitably rapturous receptions, before ‘L.S.F.’ sends a legion of pumped-up, sweaty fans onto the Luas, chanting all the way back home. Meighan recently told Hot Press how Glastonbury felt like a boxing match, and they'd scored a knockout. Tonight, they look every inch the heavyweights champions.